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Bionic prostheses nowadays

In childhood and youth, many of us read sci-fi novels about how in the future people will be less and less dependent on their physical body, organs can be grown, or altogether transferred consciousness into virtual reality.

Years go by, and technological progress is not standing aside. Already now separate organs are grown (or they are constructed), human tests are being prepared with might and main.

As for dentures, the situation is better here. The future has come, and various prostheses already allow a person to lead a full life in society.



The source of the photo

And the achievements of modern science and engineering help in the manufacture of such prostheses: the latest developments in the field of 3D modeling, 3D printers (including additive technologies), modern methods of quality management and approaches to project management.

Hand prostheses in the world and with us


Last year, the movie “Alita: Battle Angel” was released about a cyborg girl. James Cameron and the team organized a charity event to make a bionic prosthesis for a girl


Modern prostheses are also made in our country. Motorika company, about which many articles on Habré, make dentures for children.


Adults also need dentures. And the technologies that are required for this are already here.

In particular, additive technologies are used (the English additive manufacturing - from the word additivity - added) - this is a layer-by-layer build-up and synthesis of objects used in 3d printing.

Motorika company works with the first in Russia site of the Institute of Light Materials and Technologies (ILMiT). The synthesis of elements from a special aluminum alloy developed at ILMiT is used. ILMiT was created in 2017 in cooperation with RUSAL, with the active participation of Oleg Deripaska, NUST MISiS and with the support of the Aluminum Association, the Ministry of Industry and Trade and the Ministry of Education and Science.

The technological process has changed dramatically in recent years. Even 15 years ago, CNCs seemed very modern compared to traditional machines. However, small-scale production, especially with customization of products, took months - every nuance and trifle required significant changes in the programming process, etc.

We can say that 3D printing with innovations revolutionized a number of industries, including this one. As in web development, where there are many frameworks (which, thanks to competition, are constantly evolving - Hi JS!) And they provide a solid foundation and speed for the development of various custom applications and sites (and for different platforms at once), then 3D printing makes it possible to do custom development, while getting the basic functionality of materials, methods of processing (and high accuracy).

The technological process of prosthesis development at the present level widely uses 3d-modeling and 3d-printing. From parts of the prosthesis, both strength and lightness are required at the same time. Solving this and similar problems, ILMiT created 7 metal powders used in 3d printing. In the synthesis process, layer-by-layer deposition (thickness of 30 microns) of a sprayed aluminum alloy is carried out, which is then melted by a laser beam through the layers of a three-dimensional prototype.

Next are heat treatment, machining with separation from the platform.

And, of course, quality control (various checks: mechanical tests, structural studies, and so on). Tests are ideologically similar to software development (unit tests, integration tests, UX, acceptance tests). Quality control is an integral attribute of any production process.

But, as they say, it is better to see once than hear a hundred times. Details tells Liam Neeson, who starred in the video for RBC, along with Ilya Morkovtsev from Motoriki, who himself uses the prosthesis and is actively involved in testing new ones, and Alexandra Vyatkina. Alexandra and Ilya are ambassadors of Motoriki using prostheses in everyday life.


As a result, parts for dentures themselves are made in a matter of hours.

Compared to casting, prostheses obtained by layer-by-layer fusion of metal powders are 6 times more and tens of times cheaper.

Conclusion


Throughout the world, improvements are ongoing in many areas. And if some of the tasks that outstanding science fiction authors once set before humanity (for example, traveling to distant planets) are still only at the initial stage of solution, then many elements of science fiction have firmly entered our lives.

Bionic prostheses made using 3D printing using additive technologies for children and adults are today.

The future is here.
The best is yet to come.

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